OceanFlux Greenhouse Gases

Funded by ESA

The air-sea exchanges of greenhouse gases are of prime importance in the climate system. There are large uncertainties in the estimates of fluxes, even for CO2 which is the most studied, much of these uncertainties arises from the uncertainty in transfer velocities. The objective of the project is to improve the quantification of air-sea exchanges of greenhouse gases. The project aims to develop and validate new and innovative products combining field data, satellite observation, and models.

The main scientific challenges concern

• characteristics and constraining sources of uncertainty within the gas flux calculations
• the characterisations of the bubble mediated gas transfer
• methods for handling methane, nitrous oxide and dimethyl-sulphide
• and lastly quantifying the impact of localised events like rain, diurnal warming and tropical cyclones on global air-sea gas fluxes.